lipoli390 wrote:Thanks for posting these stats, Q. I agree with your take on what those numbers mean. As you noted, the numbers tell us our starting five are doing well while the team is generally held back by the bench. However, as you also noted, Ant and Vando have recently been underperforming their season stats. Hopefully, they'll both be rejuvenated by the rest they've had over the all-star break. Meanwhile, Prince and McDaniels have recently been outperforming their season stats. Hopefully, that will continue. Based on the numbers, and accounting for the recent improvement of Prince and McDaniels, I'd make the following changes in the rotation:
1. Allocate most of Beasley's minutes to Nowell
2. Sign a big like Monroe and give him a significant portion of Naz Reid's minutes.
I endorse your first point, Lip...Nowell is having a better season statistically than Beasley by almost every measure. Ultimately though I trust Finchy's judgement here staying with Beasley. I suspect his decision is based on Malik's recent improved shooting. Before his disastrous two games before the break, he was making 51% of his threes in the 7 previous February games. I suspect Finchy will stay with Beasley unless his shot completely falls apart. A hot-shooting Beasley would be a valuable trade chip in the off-season.
Right, Finch is being practical. He has a fairly high-priced veteran asset in Beasley. Completely benching said asset will do two things: 1) lead to an unhappy vet in the lockerroom, and 2) decrease his value as a trade chip. Like you said, it would require a massive collapse for him to displace Beasley with Nowell.
Having said that, I think this should all be in service to trading Beasley this offseason. Nowell seems to do well with steady minutes and I think he's ready to take on the role of 6th man shot creator for this team next season. Where we need help is more in the 3/4/5 areas since Okogie will likely be gone and I think we need an upgrade to Prince. Yes, when he is shooting 67% on 3s over a couple weeks, he's awesome. But notwithstanding his epic hot streak, he's a mediocre contributor. We need more from that position. A Naz we've discussed - nice young player, but may not be the best fit for a team needing sheer size, screen setting, and rebounding at that backup 5 spot.
Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
The truth is that Minnesota needs Malik Beasley to perform how he did in the 14 games after being acquired by the Wolves in 2019-20 and the 37 games he played during the 2020-21 season so they can trade him this summer for similar or better value.
Unfortunately, if Beasley performs like he did during those stretches we'll have fans and possibly front office members clamoring to keep him. Hopefully, everyone understands that Beasley needs to play the rest of the season before getting traded this summer and won't allow a late season surge change their feelings. They don't need to give him away, but there should be a suitable deal for him. There certainly was at the deadline.
Camden wrote:The truth is that Minnesota needs Malik Beasley to perform how he did in the 14 games after being acquired by the Wolves in 2019-20 and the 37 games he played during the 2020-21 season so they can trade him this summer for similar or better value.
Unfortunately, if Beasley performs like he did during those stretches we'll have fans and possibly front office members clamoring to keep him. Hopefully, everyone understands that Beasley needs to play the rest of the season before getting traded this summer and won't allow a late season surge change their feelings. They don't need to give him away, but there should be a suitable deal for him. There certainly was at the deadline.
It seems to me Malik is a guy that needs to play a healthy chunk of minutes to get the most out of him. I don't think a team has to start him but I think he needs to be able to play close to 30 mpg and I'm not sure the Wolves are the right time to give him that role. I think there will be some team or teams that are willing to give up some value for him this offseason even if he is somewhat underwhelming the rest of this season. I'm some ways his offensive skill set fits with the other wolves players as he doesn't need the ball in his hands but he takes a lot of shots. I think a guy that is more solid and takes fewer shots would be more helpful. It just seems like moving Beasley makes sense and it sounds like there were teams that had interest. I think the question is whether there is a bigger deal out there than just finding value for him in a deal that might even be a good move for Beasley himself.
monsterpile wrote:Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
I'm probably OK keeping McLaughlin around, especially with DLO and PBev under contract at fairly big numbers next year. At least J-Mac has proven he can run an offense and be a good game manager. If he plays next to Nowell, he has a shot creator and scorer next to him. The key though is you need size and better defenders along the front line than what we have now and that's where Naz and Prince are targets for upgrades in my opinion. You could say, well what about McDaniels, but I think he's going to end up starting a bunch of games next year whenever anyone but KAT is hurt.
monsterpile wrote:Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
I'm probably OK keeping McLaughlin around, especially with DLO and PBev under contract at fairly big numbers next year. At least J-Mac has proven he can run an offense and be a good game manager. If he plays next to Nowell, he has a shot creator and scorer next to him. The key though is you need size and better defenders along the front line than what we have now and that's where Naz and Prince are targets for upgrades in my opinion. You could say, well what about McDaniels, but I think he's going to end up starting a bunch of games next year whenever anyone but KAT is hurt.
I'm not sure how long you can keep Jaden out of the starting lineup anyway. I expect him to force his way in by his play and improvement. He should be the 3 regardless of who else you have there.
monsterpile wrote:Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
I'm probably OK keeping McLaughlin around, especially with DLO and PBev under contract at fairly big numbers next year. At least J-Mac has proven he can run an offense and be a good game manager. If he plays next to Nowell, he has a shot creator and scorer next to him. The key though is you need size and better defenders along the front line than what we have now and that's where Naz and Prince are targets for upgrades in my opinion. You could say, well what about McDaniels, but I think he's going to end up starting a bunch of games next year whenever anyone but KAT is hurt.
I'm not sure how long you can keep Jaden out of the starting lineup anyway. I expect him to force his way in by his play and improvement. He should be the 3 regardless of who else you have there.
We can revisit Jaden McDaniels as a full-time starter if/when his three-point shot falls with any consistency. Even with his recently improved play that area of his game remains a concern. He shot 34.0-percent in January and 32.4-percent in February so far -- 33.3-percent since January.
The guy shot 36.4-percent on 198 attempts last year -- compared to 29.6-percent on 199 attempts this year -- so it can be done. He just has to make those shots, especially when so many of them are wide open.
monsterpile wrote:Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
I'm probably OK keeping McLaughlin around, especially with DLO and PBev under contract at fairly big numbers next year. At least J-Mac has proven he can run an offense and be a good game manager. If he plays next to Nowell, he has a shot creator and scorer next to him. The key though is you need size and better defenders along the front line than what we have now and that's where Naz and Prince are targets for upgrades in my opinion. You could say, well what about McDaniels, but I think he's going to end up starting a bunch of games next year whenever anyone but KAT is hurt.
I'm not sure how long you can keep Jaden out of the starting lineup anyway. I expect him to force his way in by his play and improvement. He should be the 3 regardless of who else you have there.
We can revisit Jaden McDaniels as a full-time starter if/when his three-point shot falls with any consistency. Even with his recently improved play that area of his game remains a concern. He shot 34.0-percent in January and 32.4-percent in February so far -- 33.3-percent since January.
The guy shot 36.4-percent on 198 attempts last year -- compared to 29.6-percent on 199 attempts this year -- so it can be done. He just has to make those shots, especially when so many of them are wide open.
Agreed, but he brings a lot more to the table than 3 point shooting. I'd play him 30-35 minutes a night if I was coaching.
monsterpile wrote:Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
I'm probably OK keeping McLaughlin around, especially with DLO and PBev under contract at fairly big numbers next year. At least J-Mac has proven he can run an offense and be a good game manager. If he plays next to Nowell, he has a shot creator and scorer next to him. The key though is you need size and better defenders along the front line than what we have now and that's where Naz and Prince are targets for upgrades in my opinion. You could say, well what about McDaniels, but I think he's going to end up starting a bunch of games next year whenever anyone but KAT is hurt.
I was just mentioning it might be worthwhile to add him to your player rankings just to compare to other guards. McLaughlin likely isn't going anywhere because his contract is guaranteed unless someone really beats him out and the Wolves aren't tight against the luxury tax again so they can afford to cut him.
It's a bit of a shame Wright got hurt because it would have been nice to see him do his thing for the whole G-league season. I would guess at this point Wright might be locked into a 2-way deal like McLaughlin was and McLaughlin had actually played well in the NBA and didn't get an NBA offer after that rookie year.
monsterpile wrote:Q do you want to add McLaughlin to your list? It think it would be interesting to compare him to Beasley and Nowell even though his role and value is different from them...well especially Beasley.
I'm probably OK keeping McLaughlin around, especially with DLO and PBev under contract at fairly big numbers next year. At least J-Mac has proven he can run an offense and be a good game manager. If he plays next to Nowell, he has a shot creator and scorer next to him. The key though is you need size and better defenders along the front line than what we have now and that's where Naz and Prince are targets for upgrades in my opinion. You could say, well what about McDaniels, but I think he's going to end up starting a bunch of games next year whenever anyone but KAT is hurt.
I was just mentioning it might be worthwhile to add him to your player rankings just to compare to other guards. McLaughlin likely isn't going anywhere because his contract is guaranteed unless someone really beats him out and the Wolves aren't tight against the luxury tax again so they can afford to cut him.
It's a bit of a shame Wright got hurt because it would have been nice to see him do his thing for the whole G-league season. I would guess at this point Wright might be locked into a 2-way deal like McLaughlin was and McLaughlin had actually played well in the NBA and didn't get an NBA offer after that rookie year.
I just track the top 10 guys in minutes played. Lil' Mac is #11, so he's not on my list. If I were to post his #s, they wouldn't be great. While he has played better lately, like a lot of our bench guys, he was pretty bad to start the year.
And yes, on Wright, he's worth trying to keep him around with another 2-way if possible. He was very good this year in the G-League and ultimately could give us another guy that likes to get after it.
